Make California Post a Preferred Source Apparently, the Raiders need to beat their opponents and their reputation.
The first assignment is going swimmingly. Three games, three victories, including consecutive road wins and a comeback in New Orleans that required the kind of composure this franchise has been lacking for years.
That makes them one of five remaining undefeated teams in the NFL.
That should raise some eyebrows. At what point does reasonable skepticism become an unwillingness to judge the team John Spytek and Tom Brady have built, and Klint Kubiak is coaching, on its own merits? These Raiders should not have to answer for the failures of their predecessors.
How else to explain a team sitting at 3-0, producing numbers that belong in the NFL’s upper tier, still looking up at teams with considerably less impressive September resumes?
CBS Sports’ Pete Prisco has the Raiders 15th entering Week 4. Sharp Football puts them 18th. Arrowhead Pride slots them at 12th. Different evaluators, different approaches, same conclusion: keep waiting outside the top 10.
Call it whatever you want. That’s disrespect.
Yes, the Raiders earned their lousy reputation. Years of losing, coaching changes and promising moments that dissolved into familiar disappointment will do that. Nobody should be required to erase those memories because this September finally feels different.
But those memories should not count more than what is happening on the field.
The Raiders have scored 88 points and allowed 54. That is a plus-34 differential or an average winning margin of 11.3 points. They are scoring 29.3 points per game, seventh in the league, and allowing 18, also seventh.
That is meaningful production on both sides of the ball.
They beat Miami by 14, the Chargers by 12 and New Orleans by eight. Whatever reservations exist about the competition, this has not been three weeks of surviving on last-second field goals and hoping an opponent misses one.
They also lead the league with nine takeaways and a plus-five turnover differential. Those extra possessions have helped an offense that is converting opportunities into points. Kirk Cousins has thrown nine touchdown passes, tied for the league lead, with three in each game.
For all the talk about Cousins serving as a bridge to Fernando Mendoza, the veteran is doing considerably more than keeping a seat warm.
He has completed 67.4% of his passes and owns a 107.2 passer rating. Those are the numbers of a quarterback making an offense function, giving his team answers and cashing in when his defense creates opportunities.
And he won the first two games without Brock Bowers.
When Bowers returned Sunday, he caught 10 passes for 116 yards and a touchdown. An offense already finding ways to win regained its most dangerous receiving weapon. There is reason to believe its possibilities are expanding.
The defense offers evidence beyond the turnover total, too.
Sharp Football ranks the Raiders fourth in points allowed per drive, which is a particularly useful stat: It measures how effectively a defense keeps individual possessions from becoming points.
Fourth in that category should get someone’s attention.
So should a quarterback pressure rate percentage that ranks fifth in the NFL, which helps explain why the early defensive success deserves more consideration than a shrug about fortunate bounces.
Pressure disrupts timing. It forces hurried decisions. It gives coverage a chance.
And when the Raiders needed their defense most in New Orleans, it delivered four fourth-quarter takeaways. Through three games, they have not allowed a fourth-quarter point.
Given all that, it’s no surprise they are one of five remaining undefeated teams.
Yet people are still unwilling to show them the proper respect.
There are legitimate objections. The running game needs work. The Raiders are averaging only 3.2 yards per carry. Their overall offensive production, at 4.8 yards per play, does not scream dominance. Turnovers can fluctuate, and expecting four takeaways whenever a game gets uncomfortable would be foolish.
The schedule will get harder, beginning Sunday against the Chiefs.
But acknowledging weaknesses does not require pretending the accomplishments are insufficient. Nobody is asking anyone to reserve the Raiders a Super Bowl hotel.
Prisco ranks the 1-2 Rams five spots ahead of the unbeaten Raiders, giving LA credit for its past and the benefit of the doubt about its future.
But that courtesy appears to run in only one direction. The Rams’ history helps excuse their present. The Raiders’ history makes it harder to get credit for theirs.
Power rankings inevitably blend performance with projection. Still, three weeks of results should carry enough weight to change the conversation.
If the Raiders stumble, move them down. If their weaknesses overwhelm their strengths, reassess.
The Raiders cannot change the years that made everyone skeptical.
